A Different Reminder
by xsilver-galaxyx
Summary: A chance encounter and Spike finds himself in a situation he never would have imagined five years ago.


_Written for the AtS and BtVS Non-Canon Ships Comment Ficathon on LJ. The prompt was Dawn/Spike, post-series, i'm not a virgin anymore; i just thought you should know_

_For the purposes of this story Dawn is in her early 20s_

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He felt the music pulse around him as he entered the club. The air was thick with the heat, but it was different to the heat from the hot summer night outside. This was the kind of heat that made you feel like you weren't getting enough air. But it didn't make any difference to him; he wasn't planning on breathing, just drinking. Truth be told he hadn't wanted a club, full of people, vibrant, young and alive, but it had been the first place he found that served alcohol. He found a stool in a dark corner of the bar, where he wasn't likely to be seen by some drunken co-ed looking for someone to get her off, asked the bartender for a double shot of Jack and warned him not to take the bottle too far away.

He watched the people on the dance floor as they danced to the beat, moving against each other, oblivious to the heat. There was a flash of long brown hair, but before he could focus it had disappeared back into the mass. He ordered another shot.

He saw her approach the bar; leaving the boy she had been with on the dance floor. And he was a boy, like a puppy eager to please and always following his master. But there was no mistaking that she was now a woman. She had grown into the height that had made her feel awkward as a young teenager and was now emphasising it with impossibly high heels. There was a confidence about her that he could see in everything she did, from ordering a drink to toying with the boys vying for her attention.

Through the dark enveloping his corner of the bar she managed to see him. A barely perceptible look of shock flashed across her face before she turned her attention back to the bartender returning with her drink. She gave him one quick glance, as though she was confirming that she wasn't seeing things, before she turned and headed back into the mass. He was equally shocked to see her but at the same time it seemed perfectly natural that she was here. She was just as likely to be here as anywhere else. After what had happened, he'd lost track of her and the way she was behaving made him suspected that she had put everything behind and was trying to live a normal live, away from hellmouths, demons and the council. A fresh start, with no connections to her old life. He wished that he had been half as wise.

She was waiting for him as he left the club, three quarters of a bottle of Jack later. Her back was turned to him as she basked in the cool breeze coming off the river and he knew the smart thing was to keep walking, but he didn't. She must have sensed him coming, because she slipped her shoes back on, stood and approached him. They didn't say anything and she slid her hand into his as they walked back to his hotel room.

She didn't say much when he tried to make small talk, asking her about her life now, what she was doing, how she had come to be here, whether she had a good group of friends. She would only give him inconsequential pieces of information, things that would have applied to any girl her age. And he didn't say much when she lead him to the bedroom, both of them seeking a connection to their old lives but only able to handle one that hadn't been a part of their old lives.

When he woke the next morning, she pulled out of his arms immediately, obviously sensing the discomfort and guilt rolling off him in waves. Quickly reaching down beside the bed, she gathered her clothes and ducked into the bathroom. Once she was dressed she collected her purse and headed to the door. He thought that she was going to leave without saying anything, not that he knew what to say to her. She paused once she opened the door and without turning around said "I'm not a virgin anymore. I just though you should know." The door clicked gently shut behind her.


End file.
